I
Tuition freeze
reason to shout
Students should be jumping in the streets and
shouting “Hoo-ray!” And they should keep shouting, all
the way to the bank.
The Joint Ways and Means Committee of the state
Legislature recently approved a S562 million budget for
higher education that includes a two-year tuition freeze.
The House passed the budget Wednesday.
The approved budget is $21 million less than Gov.
Vic Atiyeh’s proposal, which higher ed officials said was a
maintanance level budget — meaning that the budget on
ly would maintain current services, not improve them
financially. With the state’s economic pinch, higher ed of
ficials generally should be pleased.
If students are pleased, and if higher ed officials are
pleased, who was impacted by the $21 million cut from
the Governor’s proposal? And perhaps, most importantly,
who is displeased?
At this University it very well might be the faculty.
While the budget includes an across the board salary
increase of 2 percent, $12.7 million allocated for future
academic salary and fringe benefit adjustments was writ
ten out of the proposal. The University faculty, who are
nearing bottom in terms of national salary average, are, at
best, disgruntled.
And well they should be. Their arguments against
salary cuts are valid, their reasons sound. They do indeed
deserve more money, in terms of salary compensation,
than they receive.
The committee, which cut the $12.7 million, did so
because all state employees were taking comparable
cuts. While faculty may argue they aren’t run-of-the-mill
state employees, they still are subject to the same cuts
and financial bruises other state employees are. That is
unfortunate.
As with students, we encourage the faculty to shout,
but not for the same reasons.
opinion
Recognize Sally Ride
without exploitation
Soon Sally Ride will put her feet back on terra firma,
ending the historic event of putting the first American
woman in space.
But the end of this shuttle mission will not necessari
ly be the end to all of the hoopla surrounding Ride. Ride's
name, and any other association someone can scam, will
continue to bring in easy money for a lot of hustlers and
self-righteous entreprenuers.
For instance, a man and a woman from Roseburg
have produced t-shirts that may be ordered at the Univer
sity Bookstore. The t-shirts have incorporated the earth
and the woman’s symbol into a logo that bears the motto
“Ride, Sally Ride." The woman says she hopes to earn a
million dollars from the endeavor. The KEZI-TV newscast
that showed this “news" segment had the presence of
mind to end the piece with a few bars of a song containing
the lyrics, “Ride, Sally ride..Tacky.
“People" magazine put Ride on the cover of last
week’s issue. They gave her the headline “O! What a
Ride.” Whether “People" intended it or not, the message
has several meanings, including blatant sexual overtones.
A tribute to Ride is terrific. Admiration of her feat is
terrific. And although one woman on one space mission
smacks more of tokenism than equality, she deserves at
tention and publicity.
But, using Ride as a media symbol, and exploiting
her name as an attention getting device are strong indica
tions that women are still properties, to be used, and their
privacy abused, regardless of their accomplishment.
joan herman
reporter’s notebook
L
Following my graduation
June 12, still-fresh images
linger from the commence
ment ceremony.
In a rare display of social
propriety, the festive group of
gown-clad graduates were
asking each other the delicate
question of which was the pro
per side for wearing one’s tas
sle. Somehow the bunch
managed to solve the problem,
as they all had their tassles
dangling uniformly from their
mortar boards' right sides. I
still don’t know if our choice
was “correct.”
The plastic "corks” of
smuggled champagne bottles
joyfully exploded throughout
the ceremony, as if to express
their owners’ happy moods.
Carefully crafted cardboard
“buildings" glued to architec
ture grads' caps bore evidence
of their makers' education.
"Just one more picture,
dear,” my mother told me
umpteem times, as I roasted
under the black gown and
squinted my eyes to avoid the
sun.
With “Pomp and Cir
cumstance" playing in the
background, I asked my
brother and fellow graduate if
he, too, weren’t as excited as I.
He bitterly responded that
commencement ceremonies
were only for parents, not
graduates.
He is not alone in that
opinion.
I read with ambivalent feel
ings a letter published in the
Emerald several weeks ago ad
monishing the University's
"informal" graduation an
nouncements and impersonal
ceremonies. (Reprinted below)
Oregon doily - .
emerald
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With the exception of Paul
Simon’s speech, the
ceremony was mediocre —
but I wouldn’t have missed it
for anything.
At the risk of sounding
preachy, those who feel as my
brother and the letter-writer do
are missing the boat. Like col
lege, relationships and just
about everything in life, the
ceremony is what you make it,
how you choose to perceive it.
Out of sheer boredom I, too,
read all the dissertation topics
listed in the commencement
program during the ceremony.
I, too, felt a tinge of bit
terness at the lack of recogni
tion undergraduates received
on their “big" day. Rising en
masse for a moment’s worth
of honor doesn’t quite cut it.
Yet one salient image
stands out in my mind that I
J
will never forget.
As I marched into Hayward
Field with about 2000 other
graduates, I looked up into the
West grandstand. The sight
brought a lump to my throat.
Literally thousands of proud
hands belonging to parents,
relatives and friends were wav
ing madly to the graduates. I
searched the sea of spec
tators for my own family, but
couldn’t find them.
Then I heard a familiar voice
bellowing out my childhood
nickname, and my eyes follow
ed the sound to the very top of
the West grandstand. There
was my own cheering squad,
including my rambunctious
father, waving frantically to
catch my attention. The smiles
on their faces mirrored my
own. I wouldn’t have missed
that one moment for the world.
I letters
Improve
Ceremony
As a member of the
graduating class of 1983,1 feel
the quality of our commence
ment could be greatly improv
ed. For many of us, graduating
is a memorable occassion
which I feel the graduation
ceremony should represent. I
think the simplicity and infor
mality of the announcements
is really an embarrassment to
an Institution of higher educa
tion. My high school an
nouncements had more class
and honor than did these.
The ceremony also lacks the
honor Bachelor degree can
didates deserve. We all sit for
two or more hours only to
stand up anonymously and
receive an empty diploma
holder. I understand the time
involved to recite each in
dividual by name, but some
how I feel after dedicating four
or more years here at the
University, we all deserve
recognition for our ac
complishments. I would also
like to know why a U.S.
Representative from Illinois is
our speaker? So what if he
went to the University years
ago, someone reputable from
Oregon would have been an
improvement.
I think the University is lack
ing in its responsibility of
honoring graduates with
bachelor's degrees. I would
like to see graduating classes
having the option of choosing
the type of announcement
they prefer for their class.
Some universities hold their
ceremonies for two days to
honor all graduates individual
ly, this is another way com
mencement could be
improved.
If the University would like
to have more faithful alumni,
they shoulds concentrate on
honoring us while we are still a
part of the University. They ex
pect graduating students to
contribute $15 to the Library
Project '83 over the next three
years and I ask myself “Why
should I?"
Karen Beaman
Senior, Psychology
Editors Note: This letter is
reprinted from the June 3 edi
tion of the Emerald.